Heavy machinery, which is typically connected to a power grid, must often be accessed or climbed upon in order to perform routine maintenance or repairs. One or more circuit breakers often control electrical power to such heavy machinery. When a worker enters or works upon this machinery, such circuit breakers are typically switched off in order to prevent it from being activated. Tragically, many workers have been killed or seriously injured when machinery has been activated either intentionally by people who do not realize that a worker or workers are inside the heavy machinery or unintentionally by people who accidentally come into contact with the circuit breaker switch, or similar switch and thus activate it.
Several lockout devices have been designed to prevent such accidental activations. See U.S. Patent Application 2004/0245077 by Benda as an example. Such lockout devices can be physically connected to the circuit breaker switch then locked into place through the use of a padlock or similar device. When properly installed, the lockout device cannot be removed, and the circuit breaker switch cannot be turned on or off, until the padlock has been disconnected from the lockout device. By allowing users of such lockout devices to have complete control over a machine's electrical power, work can safely be performed in or on the machine without fear that an accidental activation of the machine will occur.
However, many present lockout devices use thumbscrews or similar attachment mechanisms to connect the lockout device to the circuit breaker switch. These attachment mechanisms can be unwieldy and can take considerable time and effort to properly connect to a circuit breaker switch. This can waste a substantial amount of time and can result in a poor connection between the lockout device and the circuit breaker switch if the user becomes impatient, or lacks the fine motor skills required to operate small thumbscrews or similar devices.
Furthermore, existing lockout devices do not offer a lockout tag holder. Under current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations, a lockout tag identifying the owner of each lockout device must also accompany each device. Users of existing lockout devices typically attach their lockout tags to the padlocks used to secure each lockout device. However, this does not hold the lockout tags in any particular alignment and when multiple lockout tags are used in close proximity to one another, they can become disheveled, making them difficult to read.
Moreover, existing lockout devices do not offer the ability to lockout more than one circuit board switch. While many circuit board switches are singular and independent, higher current driving application require multiple circuit breakers to safely limit the power flow to those applications. In many instances, the multiple circuit breaker switches are joined into a single long switch. Existing lockout devices are neither sturdy enough nor configured properly to effectively lockout a multiple switch.
What is needed is a lockout device that can be quickly and easily connected to, or disconnected from circuit breaker switches, which can also comprise a lockout tag holder configured to neatly align multiple lockout tags in an arrangement that makes each easier to read.